Unfortunately MotoGP is not often discussed here on F1Fanatic, so I thought I would make this thread to discuss the new season which starts tonight. Really looking forward to the race. After the new qualifying format, Jorge Lorenzo is on pole with Britains Cal Crutchlow and Dani Pedrosa behind him. Marc Marquez, who has replaced Casey Stoner, lines up sixth and Rossi will start a dissapointing 7th. Should be an interesting race.

This was the first time I’ve ever seriously watched MotoGP and I loved it! Some great racing, great BBC coverage, it felt like genuine racing – something F1 has been lacking a bit lately. I think I’ll be watching all races this year, see how I like it :)

Fantastic race! No one able to get even close to Lorenzo, but Rossi and Marquez were equally fantastic. Can’t believe Marquez dared overtaking the great Rossi after being overtaken first. I think this is the beginning of the end of Pedrosa, Stoner was usually faster than he was but now this 20-year old rookie beats him in his very first race… As for Spies, I don’t understand why Pramac Ducati hired him after his terrible stint at Yamaha, he was barely able to keep the CRT bikes behind today…

I don’t quite how you can say this is the beginning of the end for Pedrosa considering he is arguably the season fav after winning the last 6 of 8 race last season. Was stuggeling with the front end all weekend, so 4th should be a good consolidation considering he was 6th/7th after the practice’s

@Roald Spies had a big crash in testing and isn’t 100% fit. I don’t know what happened, and I don’t know whether it will ever really come out what happened behind the scenes last season at Yamaha but he is still a fantastic rider. The guy who won races for fun in superbikes and did great in his first two years in MotoGP is still in there somewhere I’m convinced. Seriously the amount of mechanical bad luck he had last season was absolutely ridiculous.

Lorenzo is favourite for the title, he will always be in the top 3 and rarely if ever has a poor weekend. Rossi qualified badly, then made a mistake and got stuck behind slower bikes but his race pace was absolutely fantastic and he has lost none of his race craft. Given Lorenzo was on cruise control from about lap 8 it’s difficult to say Rossi had the pace to win, but he will win races of that I have no doubt. Pedrosa has been rapid all through testing, I wouldn’t write him off just yet. But Lorenzo is so good he really can’t afford to have too more many races like today.

MotoGP has suffered a lot in recent years. Racing was getting worse and worse, year after year but I think the reason why I thought that racing was worsening it was simply the fact that Rossi wasn’t there to entertain, historically MotoGP was all about managing to be quick and not die and that is not properly good racing, so racing was never that incredible. 5 points between race winner and 2nd always promoted consistency and it has always been that way but for a moment in Rossi’s era it seemed it was the quickest man the winner but ultimately it was all a mirage. MotoGP has been like it is since the early 90’s, without any difference at all, Stoner looked like Kevin Schwantz and Lorenzo looked like Rainey. Now with Rossi back at yamaha perhaps we will have some more overtaking as Rossi seems to fail to qualify as well as the bike and then rush through the field, and that’s exactly what happened today, slightly smaller gaps than 12 months ago but finally the race was boring if it wasn’t for Rossi. Why is motogp often boring I don’t know, is anything that we can do? Maybe we should stretch the field equip more riders with updated bikes. Honestly it must be possible to improve racing, just look at the BSB, racing is always better than MotoGP, especially now they have banned “rider aids” even in WSuperbikes we have better racing.

@olliekart I know that, but in my opinion Pedrosa’s impressive late-season charge in 2012 wouldn’t have been possible if Stoner wasn’t out of the equation due to injury. It’s a bit like the Button-Hamilton discussion in my opinion, Stoner (Hamilton) was a lot faster but more error prone I guess. Pedrosa shines on his days, but he’s not quite as fast as Stoner was. And my guess is Marquez, bearing a lot of similiarities to Stoner driving style-wise, will be faster on the regular as well. 2012 should have been Pedrosa’s in my opinion, the fact that he was demoted to last on the grid in Misano was absolutely ridiculous and ruined what could’ve been a fantastic climax of the season. I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see, but from what I’ve seen Marquez do in Moto2, my money’s on him to take the cake in the Repsol Honda garage.

But I agree with @debaser91 , Lorenzo is so consistent it’s hard for anyone taking a couple of non-podium finishes throughout a season to beat him. He’s ALWAYS in the top 3. As for Spies… is he EVER 100% fit?

A question I’d like to ask, why do so little people on here seem to watch MotoGP?

If Rossi didn’t perform well, MotoGP is boring. that’s simple. I’m glad he’s back to competitive Yamaha and entertained us again. I still remember those day when Rossi, Biaggi, Capirossi, Melandri, and Gibernau were all competitive, that was extremely fun to watch. To be honest I didn’t enjoy it two past seasons when Pedrosa, Stoner, and Lorenzo, make it Vettel’s style (pole to win), it’s ridiculous when a motorcycle race doesn’t provide overtaking in the corner.. Except the time Pedrosa fought Lorenzo in Brno and Sepang last year, that was great.
So, entertain us more, Valentino! Wish for a lot exciting season this year!
(and I hope the other dark horse will perform well too all season – Crutchlow, Bradley, and Dovizioso, they looks tenacious).

What a fantastic race! What an absolutely, incredible, spectacular start to the MotoGP season yesterday!

It was so good that I watched it twice the very same day. Obviously Lorenzo won but Rossi was just incredible. From the great start he made to avoiding the collision and then dropping to 7th and then working his way up to 2nd passing Dovizioso, Bradl, Crutchlow, Pedrosa and Marquez.

Let’s hope that he can qualify as well as Jorge and they can race against each other as they are both just amazing racers. Jorge has proven that he’s the real deal without any doubt and Rossi’s equal. They are meeting at different stages of their careers and it reminds me of the Federer/Nadal showdowns especially since Lorenzo hails from the same island as Rafa and because of the age difference.

Marc Marquez – what an incredible rookie race and what a statement he made against Pedrosa yesterday!

That Repsol rivalry is one to watch for sure and I’m also sure Rossi and Lorenzo’s race are all going to involve Marquez. In fact, He may be the deciding factor in who wins the championship if he doesn’t win it himself.

Rossi, Rossi, Rossi! You could tell he was ecstatic in the post race interview. I’ll be pulling for The Doctor and Crutchlow all season.

I wish the TV cameras they put on the bikes would at least have one of the older style views. From down in the windscreen looking over the tach and out. It was by far the best view for seeing the racing lines and where the rider was sticking it. Now, we get that view of the riders bum 90 percent of the time, then the rear view, and the stuck on the nose view the rest for the on bike stuff. The riders bum view was neat when that camera first came out to see the gymnastics they are up to, but besides that, it just a view of their rear end!

I’m in nitpicking mood I guess, also the BBC commentators, wish they could change that crew up. The horrible phlegm sounding bloke who literally sounds like he is eating half the time is just absolutely grating on the ears. With his eager partner, they end up trying to talk over each other most of the time. I haven’t even bothered to find out their names because I try to tune them out.

Besides my gripes great race and I think we are in for a special season.@plutoniumhunter You said you were whooping and breathless, it really made me start to think, I was whooping it up as well, and sometimes F1 just doesn’t deliver that type of thrill factor have any of you noticed? Don’t get me wrong, I am F1 through and through, but I will usually “whoop” like one time a race. Bikes have me “whooping” sometimes every other lap!